Justin Kestner (file photo)
An inmate who briefly escaped from the old Iowa State Penitentiary last year is now accused of assaulting a correctional officer.
Justin Kestner hit the officer with a “crude piece of metal,” according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Corrections. It happened late Wednesday night at the Anamosa State Penitentiary.
The DOC release says Kestner was “immediately restrained and placed in segregation.” The officer was treated for injuries to the face at a hospital.
The 26-year-old Kestner was initially sent to prison in 2009 for the armed robbery of a Sioux City convenience store. In July of 2015, Kestner escaped from the state pen in Fort Madison by crawling through the building’s piping on to the roof and sliding down the outside of the prison with a makeshift rope. Kestner then stole two cars before he was captured several hours later, about 100 miles away, in Illinois.
The Department of Corrections later released a report on the escape from the now closed prison.